


87th Heaven

by sockitup



Series: Safety in Numbers [6]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Crack, M/M, Magical Elements, Some brief concussion stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22622965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sockitup/pseuds/sockitup
Summary: In a world where active players wake up in bed with retired players who wore the same number when they need help, you might be tempted to think that every player automatically has the perfect buddy waiting for them.You would be wrong, because Pierre Turgeon only wore 87 for two season when he absolutely had to, and he's still been stuck with Sidney Crosby for thirteen years.-*-And here is the thing: Sid is a wreck. A well put together wreck, a wreck who was good at faking it, but a wreck none the less.He shows up every 11 days, because he can’t make a decision about anything by himself. At least he always knows why he’s there, which does save Pierre a great deal of time.
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Jonathan Toews
Series: Safety in Numbers [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/278058
Comments: 19
Kudos: 248





	87th Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> The end of this one definitely isn't going to make sense if you haven't read the first and second installments of the series. Might as well make sure you've read them all, in fact!
> 
> Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosbey never actually overlapped at Shattuck-St. Mary's IRL, so in this universe assume that they were roommates for two years (Jonny’s freshman/sophomore and Sid’s sophomore/junior) before they left to do the things that did happen IRL.

Pierre Turgeon had one number for almost all his career, and that number was 77. It was his number, always his number, and he was proud of it. The only time he couldn’t wear it was when he was winding down with the Colorado Avalanche, and that was just because Ray Bourque happened to get there first. In Denvor he was stuck with 87, which is a stupid number that no one would or should ever wear. 

Which is how Pierre Turgen became the only number 87 available to babysit Sidney Crosby. He didn’t even retire until The Kid had been in the league for two years, but somehow the Next Great Kid One is his problem.

And here is the thing: Sid is a wreck. A well put together wreck, a wreck who was good at faking it, but a wreck none the less.

He shows up every 11 days, because he can’t make a decision about anything by himself. At least he always knows why he’s there, which does save Pierre a great deal of time. 

A Sid Day usually goes like this:

Pierre wakes up with almost no blankets, because Sid’s huge ass hogs them all.

Sid is always awake when Pierre opens his eyes. Sid just wakes up, watches, and waits. Pierre will have max, 60 seconds and then without a greeting or anything else, Sid’ll just launch into it. 

“Do you think I should come out as bisexual even though I’m dating a women?”

“Is it okay if I’m also mad at Jack’s parents? Like really mad?”

“Do you think I might have OCD?”

“Is it a bad idea to try any get Colin Campbell fired?”

“Do you think that hooking up with your high school sweetheart at the Olympics to say ‘sorry that they made me captain and not you’ is a bad idea?”

It's never, like, a morning question.

-*-

Pierre likes to think that he gives okay advice, with the caveat that he’s always giving it before he has a chance to brush his teeth. Sid comes back a lot, but it's almost always with a different problem. So that says more about Sid than it does about Pierre.

Basically, after a year, Sid is like his little brother. He kind of follows Pierre around all day, eats a bunch of his food, usually breaks something, but also listens to whatever story Pierre wants to tell and will do whatever chore Pierre really doesn’t want to do. Pierre hasn’t had to change the ink in his printer or sand his back steps in years. 

Pierre kind of hates him still, because he has very fluffy blankets and he doesn’t like waking up cold. Pierre would also kill a Flyers roster player, no questions asked, should that be necessary. Like he said, little brother.

-*-

The first time that Pierre has to talk through Sid’s sexuality is much harder than he was expecting. It's one of the few times that Sid doesn’t automatically have an answer he knows is correct, and just needs to say out loud to another human being 20 times before he can start dealing with it.

So instead Sid just says a new, heartbreaking thing every half hour while Pierre tries to put together a ship in a bottle, because that’s just what being retired from the NHL is, it seems.

“If I come out they’ll just call me Cindy more, and I know I’m not supposed to be insulted by being called a girl in the year 2009 but…. I don’t like it.”

Pierre says, “Both of those things can be true at the same time. Hand me those tweezers?”

A half hour goes by.

“If there was someone out in the league, when I was a kid, I think that maybe I would have been happier. So maybe I should come out for the kids who are like me?”

Pierre says, “That legacy would mean more than a cup, I’m sure you know that. Can you tell if this is dowel A or dowel B?”

Another half hour goes by.

“I don’t know if anyone would support me being bisexual. Some gay people don’t even like bisexual people. I would probably just be more alone.”

Pierre says, “There have always been people who didn’t like something about you Sid, and there have always been more people who do like whatever it is. This won’t be all that much different. Can you open this glue?”

Thirty more minutes pass.

“I would come out if he asked me to.” 

Pierre pauses his tweezers , then deliberately doesn’t make eye contact as he continues with his ship.

“Who’s he?”

Sid looks glumly at the table.

“A boy. He was my roommate at SSM, and also my boyfriend at SSM. I thought maybe he was going to get drafted onto the Penguins and we would be together for a long time. But then he didn’t get drafted to the Penguins, and he’s the captain of his own team now that he has to take care of so he doesn’t really want to come out and we aren’t really dating any more. But he’s still. I would still...do whatever he wanted.”

“Does he want you to come out?”

“No,” says Sid, “He wants us to be like we were in high school, when people kind of knew we were together but the school didn’t so they let us share a room across from these two lesbians that they also thought were just best friends. Back when we didn’t have to worry about cups and the Olympic and lockouts and it was just the two of us.”

The idea that there is a NHL captain out there, who would turn his back on all the accolades that little boys on their frozen driveways play pretend about, to get back the feeling of playing house with Sid in a tiny school in Minnesota is the most heartbreaking thing that Sid has said yet. Pierre puts down his ship in a bottle.

“So what are you going to do?”

Sid sighs.

“I don’t think I’m going to come out. Yet.”

“That’s okay,” says Pierre, “You can come back to it when you want to.”

He picks his ship back up.

“What are you going to do about this boy?”

“I’ll see him over the summer a few times,” says Sid, “We’ll play in the Olympics.”

“Will you ask him if he has changed his mind about anything?”

“No,” says Sid, “I’m just going to wait.”

“Wait until what?”

“Until one of us retire, probably,” says Sid with the brutal self awareness that Pierre knows is good for hockey and not so good for having a happy life.

“Will he wait?” asks Pierre as neutrally as he can, focusing on the string coming out of the bottle.

“Of course he will,” says Sid.

The ship collapses. Pierre groans, and Sid says ‘aw’ unsympathetically.

-*- 

The first time Pierre does actually seriously consider murder is in 2011, and it's not a Flyer at all. It's everyone on the Washington Capitals, and everyone on the Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as every trainer and doctor that the Penguins work with. He’s mad. It's the first time that he wakes up before Sid, and he’s pretty shocked to see him there in the first place. He saw both the hits happen in real time, and he knows that Sid is concussed. Pierre doesn’t have any idea how the magic works, no one does. Hopefully it's not like an airplane, hopefully there’s no change in pressure or bright lights. He touches Sid’s arm lightly.

Sid opens his eyes, then presses them shut hard.

“Too bright,” he says, “sorry.”

Pierre gets up and shuts the curtains, and Sid blink once, before closing his eyes again.

“You want some food?” asks Pierre.

“Too loud,” whispers Sid, “sorry.”

“Are you hungry?” Pierre whispers.

“Can only eat bananas, rice, and peanut butter or I throw up,” he says, “sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” whispers Pierre, “You have nothing to be sorry for. You can ask me for whatever you need, okay?”

“Okay,” whispers Sid, as he draws the blankets closer around him and for once, Pierre can’t find it in himself to be mad about it. “Banana please?”

Pierre brings him a banana. He offers it to Sid, but after several painful moments of watching Sid drop it without being able to peel it, he takes it back. He gets a knife and carefully cuts off bite sized pieces and feeds them to Sid slowly. He can’t even sit up to eat them. 

“Do you know if the Pens won?” Sid asks some time later, from the same curled up position on the bed that Pierre doesn't think he could move from if he tried.

“I’m not sure, why?”

“I can’t watch TV, or look at the computer, or listen to the radio, or answer the phone, and I think Dan told people not to visit me so I don’t know anything. I’m a bad captain.”

“You’re not a bad captain. You have a brain injury.”

“I’m a bad captain,” says Sid again, and starts to cry.

“Shit,” says Pierre really quietly. “Is it okay if I touch your back?”

“I don’t know,” Sid wails, and he says it too loudly for himself, and has to borrow back into the pillows and under the blanket.

Pierre takes his chance and rubs circles on Sid’s back. It seems like that’s fine; Sid doesn’t ask him to stop or throw up or anything. Pierre rubs Sid’s back until he stops crying, and keeps rubbing his back until long after Sid’s breathing has returned to normal. He only leaves to cook some completely plain rice for Sid. 

He tries to keep one arm around Sid while they fall asleep, but it's dicey because every movement Sid feels 10 fold. He tears up again, a little, and tries to hide it. 

God, Pierre could murder. Sid is his responsibility, and he needs help all the time anyway, it's not fair that the universe did this. The fierceness of how protective he feels takes Pierre slightly off guard, but really, this is his baby brother and he’s never had one of those before.

-*-

Sid’s absolute dumbest reason for coming is when he waits until Pierre has blinked twice, then shoves a very bright iphone into his face.

“Does this picture make me look like a douche bag?”

The Stanley Cup is on the ground, with medals draped over it, and rings scattered around the base. Sid is Captain Morgan-ing with his right foot on top of the cup. He has the Conn Smyth on his left shoulder, a cigar in his mouth, and a bottle of Dom Perignon that’s already been popped in his right hand over the cup. 

“Yes,” says Pierre, “You should get it framed.”

Sid takes the phone back and smiles at it.

“Is that the only reason you’re here?” asks Pierre.

“Yeah,” says Sid.

“Jesus Christ,” says Pierre and goes back to sleep.

-*-

The first time that Sid shows up because he’s having an actual romantic relationship problem, not a sexuality problem or any other tangentially related problem, is oddly funny because Sid is dedicated to not saying the guy’s name. Except that after thirteen years of visits, Sid has mentioned this guy a lot. This guy who went to Shattuck-St. Mary’s with Sid, who’s on the Canadian Olympic team, who’s in the triple Gold Club, who’s still in the league and the captain of his team. 

It does not take a rocket scientist to know that Sidney Crosby is in love with Jonathan Toews. 

“He’s dating a civilian,” is the first thing that Sid says on this fine day.

“Who?”

“The boy,” whines Sid. 

“Which boy?” says Pierre and tries to squint as his alarm clock.

“My boy! THE boy!”

“From school?” asks Pierre, after he gives up on the alarm clock.

“Yeah,” says Sid sadly.

“Okay. So civilian as in not in the military?”

“No as in doesn’t play hockey! How could he do that?”

“Sid, you just spent three months dating a woman who worked for a rock n roll band.”

“Yeah, but...AH! He’s dating a man who teaches 6th grade.”

“That’s noble,” says Pierre, nonplussed about this whole thing and still barely awake.

“No it's not,” says Sid, and then he sighs, “Maybe it is noble, but he shouldn’t be dating him.”

“So you can date other people but he can’t?” says Pierre.

“It's not that,” says Sid, then nothing else.

“Then what is it?”

“He didn’t want to have sex with me while we were on the last road trip,” says Sid quietly. “Because he’s dating this teacher.”

“That is very normal,” says Pierre.

“I still had sex with him when I was dating Jennifer!” Sid practically shouts.

“That’s not like, good,” says Pierre, “I told you not to do that.”

Sid sighs.

“We knew it would be hard to date in the league, probably like. Too hard, and that’s the only reason we broke up. Not because I don’t love him, not because we were going to necessarily date other people. I always go back to him, always.”

“Okay,” says Pierre.

“I’m going to marry him, someday, when we’re done playing. I’m going to spend forever with him. We just have to wait a little bit, and I don’t know why he decided we’re not doing that anymore without even talking to me.”

Sid has now curled all of the blankets around himself, and Pierre is totally in the cold. Pierre yanks one of them back, and shoots Sid a look when he tries to protest.

“Sid,” he says, “Does Johnny know that you want to marry him?”

“Of course he does!”

“So you’re told him.”

“Of course I’ve told John-” and Sid stops short, “How do you know?”

“You’ve told me a lot about this boy Sid, and there are only so many NHLers who went to your high school and also to the Olympics.”

“Fuck,” says Sid and then, “Please don’t-”

“I haven’t told anyone yet, and I’m not going to start now. Get back to the point, Sid. How does Johnny know you want to marry him?”

“I told him,” says Sid.

“When? And how?”

“Well I….. It was…. It's been a really long…. He has to know, he just has to,” says Sid wildly.

“He can’t know that he’s supposed to wait for you if you never ask him to,” says Pierre.

Sid curls even more in on himself, and it's so weird to Pierre that Sid is so big on the ice and so small when he’s upset.

“Is it really obvious?” asks Sid.

“No,” says Pierre, kindly, “It's only obvious to me because I know you and I’ve heard so much about him.”

“You’re like, the only one I really say anything to. And Lynn and Helen, I guess.”

“The lesbians from across the hall?” guesses Pierre, and Sid nods. 

“Ask him to marry you Sid. Even if it's not right away, even if it's not for years. Ask him what he needs to wait for you. And don’t ask him with a cup ring.”

-*-

The first time that Sid ever calls him on the phone, the first time he communicates in a totally non magic way, is about three months later and Pierre is not ready for it.

“It's going to be small,” he starts off with no greeting, like always, “There’s no open bar or whatever. It's not going to have an Elvis impersonator or anything like that. We’re still not going to like, come out yet. Basically it's just a courthouse wedding, in Vegas.”

“What are you talking about?” ask Pierre. 

“Johnny and I are going to get married,” says Sid, “Next Tuesday. Not next Tuesday tomorrow, but next Tuesday like next week. We’re done waiting. And I’d really like it if you would come? Please?”

Pierre is actually really, really touched. To the point that he’s a little choked up when he says of course, he’ll be there, he’s already booking a ticket.

Sid is not lying when he says it's small. The whole crowd is Sid’s sister, Johnny’s brother, Jack Johnson and his brother, Brent Seabrook, two women that Pierre knows are the lesbians from across the hall, and Joe Sakic.

Pierre sits with him as they watch the vows. Joe chuckles at him.

“You were so mad when you had to pick a new number,” he says.

“I’m surprised the 19s don’t go to Stevie, considering he usually says more than 3 words at a time.”

“I don’t think that any of them go to Stevie,” says Joe, “I get a lot of people.”

“I only have Sid,” says Pierre.

“That’s not so bad,” says Joe.

“No, not at all,” says Pierre, and watches Sid and Johnny kiss. 

“I have to scoot out,” says Joe when they’re done, “I want to make sure that the people in the hotel kitchen are heating up the muffins.”

“The what?” says Pierre.

“The muffins,” says Joe as he leaves the pew, “Johnny asked me to make some instead of a cake.”

“Muffins?” says Pierre to himself. 

Then he gets distracted because the lesbians have brought rice to throw outside. He gets two of the little bags they’re hanging out for himself and Joe as he follows the happy couple outside. Joe slips back in time for Pierre to hand him a bag of rice, and the little party is yelling things of varying appropriateness as they all throw rice at the Johnny and Sid. When everyone runs out, they go back inside to eat and Pierre turns back to Joe.

“Muffins?”

**Author's Note:**

> Just want to say a really big thank you to everyone who remembered this series and everyone generally who gave this crack a try, and have left me such nice and encouraging comments. Its so sweet and it has reminded me why fandoms are so fun. I would make you all muffins.
> 
> Hint for next week?
> 
> “Do you want to be on my podcast?"


End file.
